FRIENDLY SOCIETY POLEHEAD ON STAFF

This West Country Friendly Society polehead is a rare example which survives on its original turned wood staff. The polehead, in the form of a shepherd's crook, is of cast brass with a hand-cut thread joining the crook to the turned brass column; the staff itself is of richly patinated and beautifully turned mahogany. On the feast day of the Friendly Society, the staff, decorated with ribbons and flowers, would have been carried at the head of a celebratory procession through the village.